Page 101 of The Firefighter's Fate

I’ve been hurt, and it’s clear he’ll stop at nothing to get those responsible.

Suddenly, there’s a loud ringing sound. It hurts my sensitive ears.

It’s Connor’s phone. He glances down at it.

“It’s Father,” he tells me. “I bet he has the news I’m looking for.”

51

CONNOR

“I know who it was who did it.”

It’s the first thing Father says when I answer the phone sitting next to the recovered Ember.

And I immediately see red.

It’s the anger. It has returned… the anger from the night at the mansion – the same anger I felt in my heart as I carried Ember out of that burning building.

“Who was it?” I ask Father.

He tells me everything.

How his best men have put the clues together in such swift time with the barest of a trail back to the culprit. But they are his best men for a reason.

He tells me how the fire is no accident. He tells me how they were targeting one person, and how they nearly got her...

Ember.

They were after her. It’s confirmed.

It wasn’t an accident... it was a hit job.

They burned down my childhood home to get her.

“Thank you, Father.”

“You have one day to get to him before I do,” Father says. “One day to do what you need to do, otherwise I’ll finish the job.”

“You can count on me to do what needs to be done,” I reply.

“I wouldn’t expect any less from you, Connor.”

He hangs up.

I turn to Ember. I’ve been waiting by her bedside in this New York hospital for the last forty-eight hours, waiting for her to wake up properly. I’ve done nothing else. I haven’t slept. I haven’t eaten. I have simply been fueled by the anger brewing inside me and the desire to make sure she’s alright.

And now I need to do my job.

“What’s wrong?” Ember asks me, forcing herself to sit up in the bed. “What did Waylen say?”

She looks so soft. I’ve been staring at her like a creep as she rested. I made sure that the doctors here at this elite hospital were giving her the best care, even if that meant forcibly bringing them over to check on her every hour. She has been my number-one priority ever since I carried her out of the mansion.

And now she’s awake. And she’s fine. And now I know who the perpetrator is, and now I need to find him.

“Please lie back down, Ember,” I say tenderly, gesturing to her pillow.

“What did he say?” she asks, so damn curious.

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